SB 1116 (Caballero)
HOME sponsors: Abundant Housing LA, California YIMBY, UnidosUS
The Problem
For first-time homebuyers looking to achieve the California dream, the “starter home” – small, affordable homes built in multi-family buildings, or as townhomes or cottages clustered around a courtyard – has largely disappeared.
The Starter Home Revitalization Act framework (expanded by SB 684 and SB 1123) responds to this challenge by legalizing and streamlining small clusters of for-sale homes on infill lots in multifamily and single-family-zoned neighborhoods, such as townhomes, condos, and cottage courts. The SHRA has started to become one of the most useful tools for builders to increase missing middle housing. However, some local governments have adopted codes that effectively block many of these projects.
The Solution
SB 1116 makes several clarifying changes and improvements to the SHRA:
Incorporates standard reporting requirements, similar to those required for the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 (AB 2011) and Density Bonus law.
Incorporates HCD oversight, similar to ADU law.
Clarifies the definition of net habitable floor area in the law to exclude stairs and bicycle parking.
Clarifies setbacks by forbidding setback requirements on the interior of newly-created lots and introducing a new standardized 10’ front setback.
Fixes the infill definition to align with AB 130 (2025).
Clarifies the definition of “physically preclude.”
Regulates height in terms of feet, not floors, by prohibiting local governments from setting a maximum number of floors.
Creates some flexibility in lot sizes through averaging.
Allows a 20% reduction, so long as the average is met.
Forbids any individual plot from occupying more than 50% of the original parcel.
Contact for questions: Sosan Madanat, W Strategies, sosan@wstrategiesllc.com